Method and system for controlling pressurization of a patient cavity using a pressure sensor in a trocar

ABSTRACT

According to one embodiment, a method includes positioning a trocar having a primary pressure sensor in or on the trocar into a patient cavity. The method also includes supplying an insufflation fluid to the patient cavity and measuring a pressure in the patient cavity by the primary pressure sensor. The method further includes controlling the supply of insufflation fluid by an insufflator to the patient cavity based at least on the measured pressure and determining by a processor associated with the insufflator that the measured pressure may be inaccurate and in response, controlling, by the insufflator, the supply of insufflation fluid to the patient cavity based at least on a pressure measured by a backup pressure sensor rather than based on the measured pressure.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention disclosure relates generally to medical procedures and more particularly to a method and system for controlling pressurization of a patient cavity using a pressure sensor in a trocar.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Laparoscopic surgery is a standard procedure in hospitals. Abdominal and chest cavity operations are being performed with instruments inserted through small incisions into interior portions of the body. Such laparoscopic procedures are now considered the treatment of choice for operations such as the removal of the gall bladder, spleen, adrenal glands, uterus, and ovaries. These laparoscopic procedures are accomplished via access through a device typically known as a trocar. A trocar facilitates the introduction of laparoscopic instruments into the abdomen or chest of the body. These instruments are typically introduced into regions under fluid pressure. This fluid may be a gas, referred to herein as an insufflation gas.

Providing an insufflation gas into a body cavity is referred to as insufflation. Currently, insufflation is performed by providing a regulated pressurized insufflation gas to the peritoneal cavity via a cannula of the trocar. This insufflation gas, typically carbon dioxide, is supplied to a connection on the trocar tube by a flexible hose attached thereto. The medical instrument going through the innermost tube of the trocar should be sealed relative to the trocar so the insufflation gas will not escape from the patient.

A physician can use a trocar device to introduce different types of instruments into a patient. In order to reduce incisions into the body, typically the insufflation gas is delivered into a body cavity during specific medical procedures or treatment is done via a trocar that also allows insertion of an instrument via the innermost tube of the trocar. The purpose of using such a device is to inflate or distend the body cavity to (1) allow the surgeon to explore the area in which the surgery will be performed and (2) provide a view of the site to be treated or observed.

Insufflation is used in many common procedures including endoscopic surgical procedures, laparoscopic procedures performed on the abdominal cavity and orthoscopic procedures performed on the chest cavity. Additional trocars can be used during the same surgical procedure to remove surgical smoke from the patient cavity or to continuously measure pressure within the body cavity. These trocars typically also allow for the insertion of an instrument via the innermost tube of the trocar.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to one embodiment, a method includes positioning a trocar having a primary pressure sensor in or on the trocar into a patient cavity. The method also includes supplying an insufflation fluid to the patient cavity and measuring a pressure in the patient cavity by the primary pressure sensor. The method further includes controlling the supply of insufflation fluid by an insufflator to the patient cavity based at least on the measured pressure and determining by a processor associated with the insufflator that the measured pressure may be inaccurate and in response, controlling, by the insufflator, the supply of insufflation fluid to the patient cavity based at least on a pressure measured by a backup pressure sensor rather than based on the measured pressure.

The teachings of the disclosure provide one or more technical advantages. Embodiments of the disclosure may have none, some, or all of these advantages. For example, in some embodiments, a method allows for continuous monitoring of pressure associated with a patient cavity even in the event of a pressure sensor failure. This allows safe completion of a surgical procedure without subjecting the patient to potential harm associated with deactivation of an associated insufflator. Further, providing a pressure sensor in conjunction with the trocar nearer the patient cavity provides better pressure sensing and more stable control and does not require stopping the associated surgical procedure to measure pressure according to certain standard techniques.

Other advantages will be apparent to those of skill in the art.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of embodiments of the disclosure and the potential advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following written description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the distal end of a trocar having an associated pressure sensor, the distal end placed in the abdominal cavity of a patient;

FIGS. 2A and 2B are block diagrams illustrating additional details of components of the system of FIG. 1 that may be used to effect pressure determination and resulting actions; and

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a method that includes switching control of an insufflator to be based on pressure measurements of a backup pressure sensor.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure relates to a method for controlling pressurization of a patient cavity. The teachings of the disclosure recognize that more accurate control of such pressurization can occur by measuring the pressure in a patient cavity directly through use of a pressure sensor located on or associated with a trocar such that the pressure sensor is in direct contact with the gas region in the patient cavity but that in some instances such pressure sensors can be damaged and provide erroneous data. As such, it can be desirable to monitor such pressure measurements, and when the data appear faulty, switch control of such pressurization to be based on a secondary or back up measure of pressure within the pressure cavity. In some embodiments, a backup pressure sensor located in or on the insufflator is used to provide such a backup pressure measurement, and in some embodiments a backup pressure sensor is located in or on the trocar.

Example embodiments are best understood by referring to FIGS. 1 through 3B of the drawings and the description below, like numerals being used for like and corresponding parts of the various drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the distal end 24 of a trocar 14 placed in the abdominal cavity 20 of a patient. In general, an insufflator 10 supplies insufflation gas through conduit 12 and trocar 14 to patient cavity 20. Trocar 14 allows insertion of a surgical instrument 28 into patient cavity 20.

Trocar 14 has a primary pressure sensor 22 on or associated with the trocar 14. The location can be anywhere in or on trocar 14 or associated with trocar 14; however, as described in greater detail below, in one embodiment primary pressure sensor 22 is located on the exterior of trocar 14 such that changes of pressure within trocar 14 due to supply of insufflation gas to patient cavity 20 do not affect the pressure measured by primary pressure sensor 22. In some embodiments, primary pressure sensor 22 is an absolute pressure sensor that can measure pressure in patient cavity 20 (if disposed within patient cavity 20) or in the room in which the associated operation is taking place.

Primary pressure sensor 22 is coupled to insufflator through any suitable technique, including a wired connection 25 or a wireless connection. Primary pressure sensor 22 supplies pressure data to insufflator 10. Insufflator 10 uses this pressure data to control the supply on insufflation gas by insufflator 10. In particular embodiments, this may include determining the change in height of trocar 14 relative to changes in cavity pressure and thus the resulting change in height of patient cavity 20, as described in greater detail in co-pending application Ser. No. 15/293,013 entitled Method and System for Controlling Pressurization of a Patient Cavity Using Cavity Distension Measured by a Pressure Sensor of a Trocar incorporated herein by reference. Additional details of certain portions of FIG. 1 are described below.

Insufflator 10 may be any suitable source of insufflation gas at any suitable pressure and may include a pressurized gas source. Insufflator may adjust the supply of insufflation gas to patient cavity 20 by adjusting the pressure and/or the volume of insufflation gas supplied to patient cavity 20. Insufflator may include appropriate hardware and/or software for processing signals indicative of pressures measured by primary pressure sensor 22 and processing such signals to convert them into useful information, such as converting them into pressures, heights, and/or other data that can be used control the flow of insufflation gas to patient cavity 20, and further for processing such data to determine a desired pressure and/or volume of insufflation gas supplied to patient cavity 20 and for effecting such delivery.

Conduit 12 may be any suitable conduit for providing an insufflation gas to a portion of a trocar. An example of conduit 12 includes flexible PVC tubing. The insufflation gas may be any suitable gas used for insufflation purposes. In one example, insufflation case is carbon dioxide.

Trocar 14 may be any suitable trocar through which insufflation gas may be supplied to a patient cavity. Examples of one or more trocars are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 8,715,219 (the '219 patent), U.S. Pat. No. 7,285,112 (the '112 patent), and U.S. Pat. No. 8,216,189 (the '189 patent), which are hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein. Trocar 14 may be have a single lumen or may be formed with an inner tubular lumen and an outer tubular lumen such that insufflation gas may be supplied through one of the lumens but not the other. Further, any of the lumens may be divided into multiple, separate chambers, such that gas in one chamber does not enter the other chamber. Examples of the above multiple lumens and multiple chambered trocars are described in U.S. application Ser. No. 14/792,873, entitled “Method and System for Gas Maintenance to a Body Cavity Using a Trocar,” which is hereby incorporated by reference. Trocar 14 may be open or closed at the distal end 24, as the application of the trocar would allow.

Primary pressure sensor 22 may be any sensor capable of sensing pressure or a change in pressure. Primary pressure sensor 22 may measure absolute pressure or a pressure relative to some other pressure. In some embodiments, primary pressure sensor 22 is an absolute sensor that can measure pressure in patient cavity 20 (if disposed within patient cavity 20) or in the room in which the associated operation is taking place. In particular embodiments, primary pressure sensor 22 can measure absolute barometric pressures with an accuracy of less than 1 Pascal pressure and therefore have the ability to measure the relative changes in altitude of close to one inch. Such pressure sensors are readily available in the marketplace.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are block diagrams illustrating additional details of components of the system of FIGURE that may be used to effect pressure measurement and resulting insufflator control. FIG. 2A illustrates additional details of insufflator 10, according to one embodiment. In this embodiment, insufflator 10 includes a memory 40 and a processor 42 communicatively coupled to the memory 40. Memory 40 stores a pressure application 44, which may include logic for effecting pressure and altitude determination as described with respect to the other FIGURES as well as control of the supply of insufflation gas to patient cavity 20. According to the teaching of the disclosure, a backup pressure sensor 26 is provided. In one embodiment, insufflator 10 includes a backup pressure sensor 26. Backup pressure sensor 26 may be used to measure pressure associated with trocar 14 in the event or problems associated with primary pressure sensor 22, as described in greater detail below in conjunction with FIG. 3. In another embodiment, backup pressure sensor 26 is provided on trocar 14, as illustrated in FIG. 1. The teachings of the disclosure recognize that primary pressure sensor 22 may experience problems due to being located a larger distance from an associated processor, which leads to potential for erroneous readings and interference. In addition exposing primary pressure sensor 22 to contamination, such as from blood and to humidity also contribute to potential problems being experienced by primary pressures sensor 22. Backup pressure sensor 26 may be any suitable pressure sensor, including the pressure sensors described above as being suitable as primary pressure sensor 22.

FIG. 2B illustrates an alternative embodiment of the system of FIG. 1 in which an insufflator 110 includes only standard features and is communicatively coupled through a connection 114 to a pressure module 112. Pressure module 112 includes components analogous to those described with respect to FIG. 2A, including a backup pressure sensor 126, but are included in this stand-alone pressure module. Connection 114 between insufflator 110 and pressure module 112 may be wired or wireless. It will be understood that although a software-based system is illustrated in FIGS. 2A and 2B the logic described herein could instead be implemented through hardware circuits or a combination of hardware and software.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a method 200 that includes use of a primary pressure sensor and a backup pressure sensor associated with a trocar. The method may utilize structural items such as those described in FIGS. 1A through 2B or may use alternative structural items. Computational steps described below may be performed by any suitable computation device, including insufflator 10 and pressure module 112, for example.

The method begins at step 202.

At step 204, at least a portion of a trocar having a primary pressure sensor is positioned in a patient cavity. The pressure sensor in located on, or associated with, the trocar such that the primary pressure sensor can provide a direct measurement of a pressure in a patient cavity when a portion of the trocar is positioned in the patient cavity. At step 206, the primary pressure sensor repeatedly measures a pressure within the patient cavity and communicates a signal indicative of the measurement to a processor associated with an insufflator. Also at step 206, the processor analyzes the measured pressure for indications of whether the signals indicative of the measured pressure being inaccurate or otherwise suggesting that the primary pressure sensor is operating in a less than optimal manner. Any suitable factors may be considered in such analysis; however, certain factors that may indicate the primary pressure sensor is operating than a less than optimal manner include (1) whether the received signal is not within an expected range for the received signal; (2) whether error data is received, such as whether errors have occurred due to interference from a power signal, the wrong number of bits have been received, data is received in the wrong format, or data is received with improper spacing (3) whether proper acknowledgment bits are not received from the primary pressure sensor, (4) whether the received signal is not within an expected voltage range, (5) whether expected new updated status bits are not received, such as whether a signal has changed enough to indicate a new measurement has occurred as opposed to a signal being so close to a previous signal to indicate no new measurement has occurred; and (6) in the case of two or more pressure sensors located on or near trocar 14, whether measurements by the two or more sensors are not within a certain range of each other.

At step 208, a processor determines, whether the above analysis suggests the primary pressure sensor is not measuring accurately or otherwise not operating in a less than optimal fashion. If not, then processing returns to step 206, and if so, the control by the insufflator is switched to be based on pressure sensed by a backup sensor at step 210.

Although the pressure sensed by a backup pressure sensor 210 is usually not as accurate a measure of the pressure within the patient cavity and as such not as desirable for use in controlling an insufflator associated with a trocar, when problems arise with a primary pressure sensor positioned on or associated with a trocar such the direct pressure measurements within a patient cavity can be made, it can be advantageous to at least temporarily switch control to be based on pressure measurements made by a backup pressure sensor located at the insufflator.

The method concludes at step 212.

Thus, a method and system have been described that uses backup pressure sensor for pressure measurements associated with an insufflator when it is determined that pressure measurements associated with a primary pressure sensor may be inaccurate. By doing so, advantages associated with locating a pressure sensor nearer the patient cavity may be realized.

Although one embodiment has been illustrated and described in detail, it will be understood that various substitutions and alterations can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention, as defined by the following claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for supplying insufflation fluid comprising: a trocar; a primary pressure sensor positioned on or in the trocar; a backup pressure sensor; and an insufflator communicatively coupled to the primary pressure sensor, the insufflator further comprising: a processor a computer-readable media having logic stored thereon, the logic operable, when executed on the processor, to: receive pressure measurements from the primary pressure when the trocar is positioned in a patient cavity; control the supply of insufflation fluid from the insufflator to the patient cavity based at least on the pressure measurements from the primary pressure sensor; and determine that the pressure measurements from the primary pressure sensor may be inaccurate and in response, control supply of insufflation fluid by the insufflator to the patient cavity based at least on a pressure measured by a backup pressure sensor rather than based on the pressure measurements from the primary pressure sensor.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the logic is operable to determine that the pressure measurements from the primary pressure sensor may be inaccurate by determining at least one of whether a received signal is not within a proper range of accuracy, whether any error data is received, whether any proper acknowledgment bits are not received, whether a received signal is not within an expected voltage range, and whether any updated status bits are not received.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the primary pressure sensor is positioned on the exterior of the trocar.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein the insufflation fluid is a gas that is supplied to the patient cavity through the trocar.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the backup pressure sensor is located in or on the trocar.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the backup pressure sensor located within the insufflator.
 7. A method comprising: positioning a trocar having a primary pressure sensor in or on the trocar into a patient cavity; supplying an insufflation fluid to the patient cavity; measuring a pressure in the patient cavity by the primary pressure sensor; controlling the supply of insufflation fluid by an insufflator to the patient cavity based at least on the measured pressure; determining by a processor associated with the insufflator that the measured pressure may be inaccurate and in response, controlling, by the insufflator, the supply of insufflation fluid to the patient cavity based at least on a pressure measured by a backup pressure sensor rather than based on the measured pressure.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the logic is operable to determine that the pressure measurements from the primary pressure sensor may be inaccurate comprises determining at least one of whether a received signal is within a proper range of accuracy, whether any error data is received, whether any proper acknowledgment bits are received, whether a received signal is within an expected voltage range, and whether any updated status bits are received.
 9. The method of claim 7, wherein the primary pressure sensor is positioned on the exterior of the trocar.
 10. The method of claim 7, wherein the insufflation gas is supplied to the patient cavity through the trocar.
 11. The method of claim 7, wherein the backup pressure sensor is located in or on the trocar.
 12. The method of claim 7, wherein the backup pressure sensor located within the insufflator.
 13. An insufflator comprising: a pressurized fluid source; a processor; and a computer-readable media having logic stored thereon, the logic operable, when executed on the processor, to: receive pressure measurements from a primary pressure sensor positioned on or in a trocar, the trocar positioned in a patient cavity; control the supply of insufflation fluid from the pressurized fluid source to the patient cavity based at least on the pressure measurements from the primary pressure sensor; and determine that the pressure measurements from the primary pressure sensor may be inaccurate and in response, control the supply of insufflation fluid by the pressurized fluid source to the patient cavity based at least on a pressure measured by a backup pressure sensor rather than based on the pressure measurements from the primary pressure sensor.
 14. The system of claim 13, wherein the logic is operable to determine that the pressure measurements from the primary pressure sensor may be inaccurate by determining at least one of whether a received signal is not within a proper range of accuracy, whether any error data is received, whether any proper acknowledgment bits are not received, whether a received signal is not within an expected voltage range, and whether any updated status bits are not received.
 15. The insufflator of claim 13, wherein the primary pressure sensor is positioned on the exterior of the trocar.
 16. The insufflator of claim 13, wherein the backup pressure sensor is located in or on the trocar.
 17. The insufflator of claim 13, wherein the backup pressure sensor is located within the insufflator.
 18. A computer-readable media having logic stored thereon, the logic operable, when executed on a processor, to: receive pressure measurements from a primary pressure sensor positioned on or in a trocar, the trocar positioned in a patient cavity; control the supply of insufflation fluid, by an insufflator, to the patient cavity based at least on the pressure measurements from the primary pressure sensor; and determine that the pressure measurements from the primary pressure sensor may be inaccurate and in response, control the supply of insufflation fluid by the insufflator to the patient cavity based at least on a pressure measured by a backup pressure sensor rather than based on the pressure measurements from the primary pressure sensor.
 19. The computer-readable media of claim 18 wherein the backup pressure sensor is located in or on the trocar.
 20. The computer-readable media of claim 18 wherein the backup pressure sensor is located within the insufflator. 